Google to launch air travel search

Google’s planned purchase of ITA Software, a company in Cambridge, Mass., that makes the software used by many airlines and online travel agencies to compare fares and flight schedules, also has the potential to shake up online search. Google has said that it wants to develop a more advanced kind of flight search than those currently in use. The way it explained the new search, travelers could type in that they want to go to a warm, child-friendly destination in March for less than $300 — and Google would present the options. Google says it does not plan to sell airline tickets itself, but plans only to develop a flight search engine similar to Microsoft’s Bing Travel, which sends shoppers to the airlines’ own Web sites or to online travel agencies. – read more from NYTimes